Chapter 140: Dawn: The Birth of the Demon Prince [VIP]
"Young Master! Young Master!"
The succubus's face suddenly rushed into Xiao Yun's field of vision, and her white body was stretched into a long snake-like strip in the darkness.
"you……"
Xiao Yun took a breath, trying not to get mad at this idiot who constantly appeared before him in ways no normal person could understand. "What's going on?"
"I have some really good news for you, old man~"
"'Dark Night Mentor'?"
"Ah, an old man is an old man, no need to address him in such a formal way~"
Romila chuckled and said happily, "The old man asked me to tell you some good news—He has left the capital."
"oh?"
Xiao Yun's expression gradually became serious: "Are you sure?"
"Quite sure."
Romila's voice suddenly became serious, turning into the hoarse and dark chuckle unique to the "Dark Night Mentor".
"Last night, the barrier covering the capital's sky began to loosen, and an unusually strong 'qi' left the capital. Afterward, the barrier returned to its original state, but the sense of intimidation was at least half as weak. So I'm sure "He" has left. We should seize this rare opportunity. In one breath—hehehe!"
“It’s March.”
Xiao Yun said suddenly, "The Demon Prince will be born in April at the latest."
"...You suspect I'm lying to you?"
"Can I trust you?"
"Then I'll go find 'White Devil' and 'Prairie Black Eagle' right now. They will definitely believe me without hesitation and accept my request."
The Dark Night Mentor let out an eerie laugh. "Dear little bird, I really like you. Your alertness, honesty, and loyalty captivate me. Thinking of how you will unleash your full power because of his misfortune fills me with enthusiasm for the future."
"What did you say?"
Xiao Yun looked serious.
"One day you will understand that this world is full of lies, especially His Royal Highness. He never speaks a single word of truth."
After saying that, the "Dark Night Mentor" left.
"I will ***** sooner or later ***** first ***** and then *****"
Having regained control of her body, Romila cursed the retreating "Dark Night Mentor" and then fawned over Xiao Yun, "Don't mind that old bastard. He's talking nonsense. He's jealous that the prince is better looking than him and has the secret he's always dreamed of... If you miss your brother, I can become his. I'm the best succubus. No one knows how to make a man happy better than me."
“…”
Xiao Yun was speechless again.
…
…
The night in the royal capital was filled with fear and trembling, as if immersed in an ocean of nightmare from which one would never wake up.
Yaris stood quietly at the window sill on the fifth floor of the White Tower, stretching out his pale hand towards the darkness.
The cries of the dead could be heard faintly in the air.
“He’s gone for a while.”
"Yes."
"I can also proceed to the next step."
"Your Highness, you—"
Kelly swallowed his saliva: "Are you really going to do this?"
"Do I have any other choice?"
"Yes! I am your choice!"
A cry of near-desperate collapse suddenly rang out.
Kelly turned around and saw Edmund, who was wearing a black cloak with a triangular hood that completely covered his face. "Your Majesty—"
"You don't look like an emperor at all now."
Jarris teased Edmund.
Edmund walked into the room stealthily, took off his hood, revealing his eyes, which were shining suspiciously in his pale and thin face.
"Help!"
He said to Yaris, "Help me!"
"How can I help you? I could die at any moment—"
"The Demon Prince is about to be born, and He has left again! Without His help, I will most likely be sucked dry by Him the moment He is born! Only you, the only one in the entire palace right now, can help me survive the birth of the Demon Prince and continue to live!"
"But why should I help you?"
Yaris asked Edmund in return.
"Because... because your brother needs to publicly execute a tyrant to prove the legitimacy of his regime!"
Edmund pleaded bitterly: "At this point, I no longer have the luxury of living, but I must die in a dignified manner as an emperor, not die in a corner like a used and discarded rag where no one can see me!"
"Okay, I promise you, but..."
Yaris sighed helplessly: "My current situation——"
"Do you need help?"
"Yes, I need a helper. He must be proficient in herbal writing, meticulous in his work, and extremely strict in his words. He must also be at least a high-level mage to satisfy the Demon Prince's appetite."
"That's easy."
Edmund said without hesitation: "I will send for Ulysses right now!"
"Of course he's still alive. He's always been so honest that he won't let me kill him, but he's gone now! With that thing's greed and hunger, it's hard for Sith to eat him!"
Edmund said bitterly.
"How could I not hate him! I helped him rise from an unknown beggar to the Prime Minister of the Empire, and he actually betrayed me! What an ungrateful thing!"
"But you appointed him because you admired his talent. You simply thought that since he came from a humble background, he would obey you after becoming Prime Minister. Furthermore, at the time, the clans were opposed to appointing a commoner as Prime Minister, so you thought it would be fun to do so and appointed Yiwu."
"Yes... I did insist on appointing him as Prime Minister out of defiance of everyone else... I thought he would be loyal to me, but he—after becoming Prime Minister, he immediately started fawning over you! He used everything he got from me to please you! He's such an ugly, clueless bat!"
"It doesn't matter now."
Yaris said nonchalantly.
Edmund nodded.
…
…
The moment he entered the White Tower, Ulysses was filled with strong disgust, fear and horror at the strangeness lingering there.
(Here… there is an aura of holiness that is almost transparent, yet also entwined with a disgusting, rotten evil that seems to originate from the deepest depths of the human heart…)
(There is no doubt that His Highness is trapped here. Only he can emit such a holy aura, but... why does it still exist in the White Tower... This is something I have never seen before...)
"Hurry up! Hurry up! If you don't hurry up, His Majesty will be angry!"
The horse-headed attendant hurried Ulysses, who had suddenly stopped.
"I, I feel unwell."
"This is not your concern! Get in now!"
The horse-headed attendant pushed Ulysses and forced him to step into the world full of unsettling and disgusting atmosphere.
"I……"
Ulysses took a deep breath and walked into the White Tower, where valuable antiques and artworks were placed in every corner. He felt like he was walking in the palace of the devil, and the screams of death from nowhere kept ringing in his ears.
(What’s wrong with this place?)
Why is there both His Majesty's sacred aura and a creepy malice? Even the wallpaper on the wall looks like some kind of crawling monster...?
Ulysses thought uneasily as he followed the unpleasant-looking monster servant and quickly arrived at the fifth floor of the White Tower.
…
In order to make the distinguished prisoners feel comfortable, the fifth floor of the White Tower was divided into four areas: reception room, bedroom, bathroom and servant room.
Except for the servants' quarters, every place was decorated in an extremely luxurious manner. Expensive paintings hung on the walls, beautiful brocades covered the sofas, soft carpets covered the floors, and marble pitchers were filled with fresh, dewy Rosamarias, telling everyone that a noble and beautiful person lived here.
However, when Ulysses came here for the first time and looked at the familiar decorations, he felt a strong sense of uneasiness and even abnormal fear in his heart.
(I have to do something! I have to find a way, fast!)
I cannot let the country I love so much be led into the dark abyss by monsters!
(If even His Highness Yaris is powerless... I...)
Of course, although his heart was filled with strong thoughts, Ulysses appeared unusually calm on the outside. Led by the horse-headed attendant, he walked into the reception room and saluted Yaris who was sitting on the sofa.
"Your Highness—"
"oh."
Yaris's voice was a little hoarse, and his already pale skin looked slender and dreamy like an elf because he had not seen the sun for a long time. He was wearing a loose white silk robe, his eyes were black and bright, his long black hair was draped over his shoulders, and the part below his knees was carefully covered by a blanket by his servants.
"Ulysses, it was I who suggested to Edmund that someone be brought to the White Tower. Edmund's condition is dire. He is no longer the same Edmund. He needs our help to survive."
“…”
Ulysses lowered his head silently.
"The crown prince of the Yula Dynasty is about to be born."
"ah?"
"Although neither Edmund nor I think that thing can be considered human."
Yaris sighed and stretched out his slender left hand to Ulysses: "Let's go next door together."
"Yes, sir."
Ulysses carefully held the hand, which was as fragile as crystal, and whispered, "Your Highness's eyes..."
"My eyes..."
Yaris said in a slow, monotonous voice: "My eyes are almost completely blind."
"That--"
"It's okay. Blindness doesn't harm the world."
Then, surrounded by servants, the two walked into a dirty and smelly bathroom where even the ceiling was stained with a sticky, tar-like substance in the shape of blood.
Edmund's weak and strange voice was heard from behind the low curtain.
"Ulysses, is that you? Come here quickly, I need your help... If you still love your country and your people, come here quickly... Come and help me... Quickly!"
"He's in the bathtub, with the darkness spilling out of him."
Yaris said nonchalantly.
"What……"
Ulysses turned pale.
"hurry up!"
A faint voice was heard from behind the curtain again, and a dry, skeleton-like hand covered with a tar-like sticky substance stretched out from the gap in the curtain.
"Ulysses! You can't just leave me alone!"
Edmund cried out in pain.
Ulysses mustered up his courage and forcefully opened the curtain. The round marble bathtub, which was large enough for an adult man to lie flat on his back, was filled with black, sticky dark matter. At this moment, it was reflecting the white light of the magic path, reflecting a colorful black.
Edmund was half buried in a dark and strange sticky substance. His already sunken and withered cheeks had lost the last luster of life. His skin hung from his cheekbones to his chin, without a single muscle or fat filling it. His eyeballs were deeply sunken, his mouth was covered with wrinkles up and down, and his golden hair looked like rotten straw after a rainstorm.
(He has no vitality and may die at any time!)
Ulysses thought in horror.
Edmund stretched out his hands to Ulysses again. The skin on his arms was as wrinkled as his cheeks, like a mummy that had been dried for a hundred years.
"Ah... Ulysses, you finally came. I'm so glad... You're a good man..."
Edmund's bloodless, gray-white lips parted, and a hoarse, eerie sound came out.
He is dying and may die at any moment.
Facing such a miserable Edmund, Ulysses suddenly felt that the hatred in his heart had faded. He asked in confusion: "Why? Why did this happen to you?"
"Yeah, why? Why?"
Edmund turned his head and looked at Ulysses and Yaris standing behind Ulysses.
"Because I desperately wanted affirmation and strength, I, Wang Dong, leaned towards Him. With His help, I absorbed all the darkness, distortion, and deformity that lingered in this palace into my body, successfully giving birth to a terrifying monster."
“…”
"I thought I would gain power from this, and be respected and worshipped by everyone. He also told me that the thing that crawled out of my body would lead the entire planet into a new era... But now I'm scared... It's not human at all, nor is it any known life form... It's a monster! A pure monster!"
"His Majesty……"
Ulysses looked at Edmund, who was being overwhelmed by darkness and despair and had become emotionless, with pity: "You look..."
"Have you discovered it too? I'm about to die. Everything I have has been sucked away by that thing..."
Edmund roared resentfully, "It sucked all of me dry, leaving not even a drop of water behind! But I don't want to die! I don't want to die yet! Even if I die, I should die with dignity as an emperor! Not be sucked into a mummy by a monster!"
"This matter—"
"Help me! Help me!"
Edmund's eyes rolled in pain. "If you, like Jarris, wish for me to walk to the guillotine as a tyrant who destroyed my country, please help me! Let me survive!"
"I--"
Ulysses wavered.
He turned around and asked Yaris: "Your Highness, should I -"
"If you want to help him, hold his hand and give him your strength or 'chi'."
Yaris's voice was gentle.
"If you don't want to help him, I won't be angry. He's committed countless atrocities in the past year of his reign. Now, being sucked dry by the Demon Prince, conceived by his own desires, his death is well deserved—although I secretly hope he can live to stand trial and be guillotined before the people."
"—I also want him to live to see the day of his trial!"
"Ulysses!"
Edmund screamed, "Why! Why do you hate me so much! I'm your benefactor!"
"Really? Are you my benefactor?"
"If it weren't for me—"
"You promoted me and called yourself my benefactor, but you've never truly known me, nor do you understand me, let alone what I want."
"What did you say? What do you want?"
"I want a world where even the lowest commoners can rise to prominence through their own efforts and be respected by everyone, not the world we live in now—where even if they possess talents that surpass most aristocratic children, they must still fawn over those in power, endure the contempt of others, and feel inherently inferior to the nobility."
"Who can build such a world? Is it possible to realize such a world filled with unrealistic ideals and childishness?"
Edmund sneered.
As he was dying, he longed for Ulysses' "qi" to sustain his life, but was also full of ridicule and disdain for the dream that Ulysses persisted in.
Ulysses sighed: "I don't know who can build such a world, nor do I know when my ideal will turn from a dream into reality, but I firmly believe that it will come true one day."
…
…
After the great defeat at Ram Plains, the morale of Edmund's army became increasingly low and depressed.
Therefore, although the combined number of participants on both sides of the battle at Para Hill, about a hundred miles from Denos, was close to 120,000, with Edmund's army numbering over 70,000, the actual number was...
In less than half an hour, the Holy Empire coalition forces achieved an overwhelming victory.
When the Dalavian army received the news and arrived at the battlefield, the Edmund army, which had lost its fighting spirit, was fleeing in all directions.
At dusk, the battlefield was filled with the cries of the wounded, and the setting sun was so red that it seemed to have absorbed the blood flowing on the ground.
As a result, the Dharaviya Army's job changed from providing support to cleaning up the battlefield.
Fortunately, since most of the soldiers in Edmund's army were demoralized and were planning to flee or surrender before the battle even began, the Holy Empire coalition army, under Xiao Yun's orders, neither pursued the fleeing Edmund soldiers nor troubled Wang Dong's surrendered enemies.
Therefore, although there were cries of grief on the battlefield, the actual casualties were far less serious than it seemed.
Most people were only slightly injured, and a few were even accidentally injured by their companions or kicked by their frightened horses.
All the wounded - regardless of friend or foe - received proper treatment, and the dead were gathered in one place, their faces covered with cloth, waiting for the priests' prayers after dawn.
"No matter what, they are our compatriots and we cannot abandon them."
After explaining the specific matters, Xiao Yun walked into the tent where Marquis Maternia, who was appointed commander-in-chief of Edmund's army in this battle, was imprisoned.
"Matenya——"
"Who are you?"
Matenya raised his head, his facial expression as stiff as a puppet.
"Do you remember my name?"
"Who are you……"
Matenya looked at Xiao Yun blankly and blinked in confusion: "You are His Majesty's enemy."
"What else?"
"I was ordered to attack you, but you defeated me."
"Um--"
Xiao Yun walked around behind Matenia and took out the golden gem.
In the dim light of the gem, he saw a white worm lying on the inside of the Marquis's neck.
"It's indeed the 'Demon Spore'."
Xiao Yun sighed and asked the magicians to guard Matenia: "If he shows any abnormality, such as suddenly talking to himself, you must report it to me immediately!"
"Yes, sir!"
…
After dealing with the matter of Matenia, Xiao Yun returned to his military tent. As soon as he entered the tent, Adrian, who had been waiting for a long time, turned into a whirlwind and hugged him.
"Wang Ren! I'm finally not late this time! I'm here! Just in time!"
"His Majesty--"
Haras, the chief of staff of Dalavia, who was following behind Adrian, saluted softly.
Hearing this cry, Adrian came to his senses and quickly let go of Xiao Yun. He touched the back of his head embarrassedly and frowned, "I almost forgot..."
Then, he knelt on one knee and saluted Xiao Yun: "Your Majesty! The current Duke of Dalavia, Adrian, salutes you!"
“It doesn’t have to be so complicated.”
Xiao Yun smiled and asked Adrian to get up.
Adrian looked at Xiao Yun uneasily: "Your Majesty, the matter of His Highness Yaris... I am very sad. If Edmund allows it, I am willing to use myself as a hostage in exchange for His Highness Yaris's return..."
"Adrien—"
"I know that His Highness Yaris is the only one for Your Majesty, and as a knight who worships Your Majesty as the King of Swords, I must help Your Majesty bring His Highness Yaris back safely at all costs."
"I'm very touched by your kindness, but this matter..."
Xiao Yun sighed: "This matter is not as simple as it seems."
"So I brought all the troops in Dharavia, including veterans and reservists."
Adrian said excitedly, "We heard that we were going south to fight for His Majesty, so everyone is very enthusiastic."
"Every Dalavian remembers the kindness your majesty has shown to Dalavia."
Halas added.
"The Dalavian Territory's unwavering support for the nascent Holy Sun Empire ensured our victory every step of the way."
Xiao Yun replied calmly.
This is not a compliment.
For hundreds of years, the Dalavians not only bore the heavy burden of the northern border defense, but also served as the core source of troops for many armies within the empire. After the Black Death, Edmund began to doubt the loyalty of the Dalavians in the army. After the Dalavian region declared its allegiance to Xiao Yun, Edmund did not dare to send any team in which Dalavians accounted for more than 50% of the troops to the battlefield. The number of people that could be mobilized in the army dropped sharply, and the combat effectiveness was greatly reduced.
"Your Majesty, it is an honor for Dalavia to receive your praise."
Haras bowed to Xiao Yun and then stood up. "Queen Isabel of Brania hopes to meet you as soon as possible."
"This question..."
Xiao Yun thought for a moment and said cautiously, "The first meeting between Her Majesty Queen Isabel and me should take place in a formal setting, such as the inner city of Dinos."
"You are quite right."
…
…
After bidding farewell to King Adrian's servant, Xiao Yun walked out of the tent and looked at the pale and cold moon in the middle of the night sky. Ripples of longing once again arose in his heart.
(I don’t know what Yaris is like now…)
"Uncle Lucien—"
Following a clear and lovely voice, a black-haired boy with an impeccably beautiful face, dressed in traditional lace-embellished court attire, walked out from the darkness.
He looked no more than five years old, with skin as white as milk, cheeks a lovely rosy red, lips a slightly transparent coral red, bangs covering his eyebrows as if cut by a knife, and hair on both sides hanging down fluffy near his swan-like neck. His pupils and irises, separated by a circle of silver-red, were a rare pure black.
However, although the boy's appearance reminded people of young Yaris, Xiao Yun felt only hatred when he saw this face.
Because boys are not human!
It's a monster!
A monster purer than the deformed alien life was born from the gathering of all the darkness, distortion, madness, and conspiracy that had been wandering in the Palace of Light for thousands of years!
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